During his two years in office, Donald Trump has clashed with Washington's trans-Atlantic allies over immigration, defence spending, trade barriers, the environment, Russia's gas pipeline and the Iran nuclear deal. He says he is well-aware that Europeans lack faith in him, but still believes that he could be "the most popular person in Europe".

US President Donald Trump has defended his "America first" approach in relations with Europe. The POTUS said it was his job to make Europeans pay more for defence, which his critics at home say has undermined his popularity across the Atlantic.

"When they say I'm not popular in Europe, I shouldn't be popular in Europe", Trump told reporters on Wednesday. "If I was popular in Europe, I wouldn't be doing my job."

TRUMP on his low approval ratings in Europe: "I could be the most popular person in Europe. I could run for any office if I wanted to. I don't want to." pic.twitter.com/6qltEZeeuL

Donald Trump has claimed that EU members take advantage of his country with respect to trade and defence, and has called on them to boost military spending, including within the framework of NATO.

"Germany pays 1 percent", he said, referring to Berlin's defence spending, which was estimated at 1.2 percent of GDP last year. "They should be paying 4 percent. They're paying 1 percent. They should be paying even more than that. Other countries pay a small percentage of what they should be paying. So, when I say I'm sorry, folks, you have to pay up, I shouldn't be popular in Europe."

Trump's fellow Republican and bitter critic Mitt Romney said in a scathing op-ed piece that the American president's actions and protectionist agenda had caused his popularity to sink in Europe. Romney pointed to a rapid decline of Trump's image among key allies such as Germany, Britain, France, Canada and Sweden.

The POTUS appeared to be aware of his low European ratings, but stressed that he still maintains "very good" relations with EU leaders. "I don't care about Europe. I'm not elected by Europeans, I'm elected by Americans. And by American taxpayers, frankly", he said of the polls.

He added that his protectionist agenda would be welcomed in Europe. "I could be the most popular person in Europe. I could run for any office if I wanted to but I don't want to. I want people to treat us fairly and they're not."

Some commenters believe that Trump's popularity overseas should not be a talking point.

In what capacity does our president’s popularity in foreign countries even enter a conversation?

The Trump administration strained its relations with its European allies following the introduction of import tariffs on aluminium and steel on 1 June 2018 — a move widely criticised by the leaders of France, Germany, and the UK.

Trump has also schooled his NATO allies from the European Union for what he said was not sticking to their spending commitments. "The United States is spending far more on NATO than any other country. This is not fair, nor is it acceptable," he said in July. "While these countries have been increasing their contributions since I took office, they must do much more."

Additionally, Donald Trump bashed Germany for constructing Nord Stream 2, a pipeline stretching from Russia to Germany across the Baltic Sea, and threatened to sanction European firms investing in the project.

Another spark that caught flak from Brussels was the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, which Trump announced last May. The remaining signatories of the accord, including Germany, France and the UK, have condemned his move and vowed to uphold their commitment to the deal.

Hello,
!

We are committed to protecting your personal information and we have updated our Privacy Policy to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a new EU regulation that went into effect on May 25, 2018.

Please review our Privacy Policy. It contains details about the types of data we collect, how we use it, and your data protection rights.

Since you already shared your personal data with us when you created your personal account, to continue using it, please check the box below:

I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of creating a personal account on this site, in compliance with the Privacy Policy.

If you do not want us to continue processing your data, please click here to delete your account.

promotes the use of narcotic / psychotropic substances, provides information on their production and use;

contains links to viruses and malicious software;

is part of an organized action involving large volumes of comments with identical or similar content ("flash mob");

“floods” the discussion thread with a large number of incoherent or irrelevant messages;

violates etiquette, exhibiting any form of aggressive, humiliating or abusive behavior ("trolling");

doesn’t follow standard rules of the English language, for example, is typed fully or mostly in capital letters or isn’t broken down into sentences.

The administration has the right to block a user’s access to the page or delete a user’s account without notice if the user is in violation of these rules or if behavior indicating said violation is detected.